University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


s 

University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


INDIAN  RIGHTS  ASSOCIATION, 

OFFICE,  No.  1305  ARCH  STREET, 

PHILADELPHIA,  February,  1889. 

CIVILIZATION  BY  REMOVAL! 

THE  SOUTHERN  UTES. 

BY  C.  C.  PAINTER. 


There  is  a  bill  now  pending  in  Congress  to  ratify  a  treaty 
with  the  Southern  Utes  of  Colorado,  which,  if  passed,  will 
be  a  repetition  of  the  oft  tried,  but  not  hitherto  successful, 
expedient  of  civilizing  Indians  by  removing  them  from  the 
homes  in  which  they  are  beginning  to  settle,  because  of 
the  pressure  of  whites  upon  their  lands,  to  other  lands  which 
do  not  present  so  great  temptations  to  Anglo-Saxon  greed. 

These  Indians,  known  as  the  Southern  Utes,  consist  of 
three  bands :  The  Muaches,  Capotes  and  Weeminuches, 
about  950  in  all,  occupying  a  Reservation  in  the  south 
western  part  of  Colorado — a  long,  narrow  strip  of  land  15 
miles  wide  by  120  miles  long,  containing  some  24,000  acres 
of  good  agricultural  land  which  can  be  easily  irrigated  from 
the  numerous  streams  flowing  through  it ;  the  remainder 
is  excellent  grazing  land. 

After  the  troubles  growing  out  of,  or  properly  speaking, 
one  incident  of  which  was  the  Meeker  massacre,  in  which 
these  Utes  had  no  part,  new  arrangements  were  made  with 
all  the  Utes,  under  which  these  bands,  known  as  the  South 
ern  Utes,  occupied  a  part  of  their  old,  but  greatly  reduced, 
Reservation  under  an  agreement,  ratified  by  Congress  in 
1880,  which  entitled  them  to  an  allotment  in  severalty  of  "an 
abundance  of  good  agricultural  land,"  "with  houses,  wagons, 
agricultural  implements,  and  stock  cattle  for  their  reasonable 

1 


wants;"  also  "such  saw  and  gristmills  as  maybe  necessary 
to  enable  them  to  commence  farming  operations  ;"  and  their 
pro-rata  share  of  perpetual  annuities  amounting  to  $75,000; 
and  sufficient  schools  for  the  education  of  their  children,  in 
addition  to  the  provisions  of  previous  treaties  for  food  and 
clothing. 

The  reports  of  the  Agents  in  charge  of  these  Indians 
from  year  to  year  discover  what  has  been  done,  and  what 
success  has  been  attained  in  carrying  out  the  provisions  of 
this  agreement  by  the  government.  In  1881  the  agent 
reports  no  schools,  but  an  effort  made  to  induce  the  Indians 
to  send  their  children  to  Carlisle,  Penn'a. ;  lands  examined, 
and  surveys  being  made ;  not  enough  agricultural  land  to 
give  as  much  as  had  been  promised.  (The  agreement  was, 
in  this  case,  that  additional  land  on  the  La  Plata  River  in 
New  Mexico  should  be  given  them).  The  Denver  and  Rio 
Grande  R.  R.,  without  coming  to  any  arrangement  with  the 
Indians,  as  ordered  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  made 
50  miles  of  road  through  the  Reservation.  This,  added 
to  the  fact  of  trespassers  crowding  them  on  every  side,  and 
talk  of  removing  them,  keeps  the  Indians  uneasy.  (The 
government  had  pledged  itself  to  protect  them  against  such 
intrusions.) 

In  1882  the  Agent  commends  the  good  behavior  of  the 
Indians  in  not  interfering  with  the  running  of  trains  on  50 
miles  of  road  built  on  their  lands  without  compensation  or 
any  arrangement.  No  schools  ;  no  farms  opened. 

1883.  The  Agent  asked  for.  farming  implements  and 
seed  for  five  Indians  whom  he  had  persuaded  to  open  farms. 
$200  sent  him  in  June,  too  late  for  the  purpose.  In  May 
4800  ewes  issued  to  them,  from  which  they  sold  6000  Ibs. 
wool.  No  schools  established.  The  Agent  says  :  "  They 
are  fast  adopting  the  customs  of  the  whites  in  manner 
of  dress.  /  also  consider  their  present  location  well  adapted 
for  their  advancement  in  this  direction.  They  are  surrounded 
by  whites,  with  whom  they  are  constantly  thrown  in  contact, 
which  has  a  good  effect." 


1884.  The  Agent  is  authorized  to  erect  a  building  for 
a   day  school.     Twenty-four   children    sent   to    school   at 
Albuquerque.    Supplies  deficient.     Indians  eat  up  all  except 
1 500  of  their  sheep.     Fifty  acres  of  land  under  cultivation, 
and  raised  1 500  bushels  of  wheat ;  1600  bushels  of  oats.    The 
Agent  says :  "  Under  proper  guidance  fifty  Indians  will  be 
farming  next  year."     The  Indians  leased  grazing  lands  for 
$10,000,  but  lease  not  sanctioned,  and  so  their  lands  were 
grazed  without  pay.     Whiskey  traffic,    trespassing    upon 
lands,  and  other  depredations  upon  Indians  making  trouble. 

1885.  A    new   Agent.     School    house   built,   but   no 
authority  to  open  school.     "  A  few  have  done  well  in  farm 
ing."     Three  hundred   acres  under   fence,  and    250   acres 
under  cultivation.     A  family  of  six  Indians  brutally  mur 
dered.     Murderers  not  discovered,  and  no  action  taken  by 
the  State.     "  The  prevailing  sentiment  is  that  Indians  are 
not  human."    "  No  ground  for  the  report  circulated  that  the 
Indians  were  about  to  break  out."    The  agent  says  :  "  The 
Southern  Utes  are  no  doubt  making  some  progress  toward 
civilization.    This  will  be  more  clearly  demonstrated  if  more 
of  them  are  encouraged  to  engage  in  agriculture.     Their 
manner  of  life  has  been  essentially  a  nomadic  one,  but  when 
they  learn  the  benefits  which  they  can  derive  from  farming 
by  their  own  efforts  they  will  begin  to  appreciate  the  blessings 
of  a  permanent  home.     Those  who  are  now  engaged  in  this 
pursuit  are  fully  aware  of  the  advantages  they  enjoy  over 
their   more   backward   brethren,  and    many  of  the    latter 
will  be  glad  to  follow  their  example  if  any  encouragement  is 
held  out  to  them." 

1886.  Day  school   established,  but   not  doing  much. 
Squaws  think  the  death  of  one-half  of  all  the  pupils  sent 
to  Albuquerque  proof  that  they  must  not  send  their  children 
to  school.     Fourteen  farms  opened;   100,000  Ibs.  of  grain 
raised,  beside  a  large  quantity  of  potatoes.     Two  hundred 
and  fifty  acres  under  cultivation,  but  Indians  discouraged 
by  lateness  of  spring  and  long  continued  drought.     Delega- 


tion  brought  on  to  see  if  the  Department  will  not  remove 
them. 

1887.  Commissioner  had  paid  them  a  visit,  and  found 
the  great  majority  of  them,  and  these  the  best  of  them, 
opposed  to  removal.  Ten  miles  of  irrigating  ditches  made 
in  the  valley  of  the  Pinos  river.  Four  hundred  acres  of  rich 
sage-bush  land  plowed  and  divided  into  2O-acre  farms. 
Great  increase  of  interest  in  farming,  and  a  permanent  farmer 
asked  for,  to  teach  them  farming. 

These  quotations  give  a  fair  presentation  of  the  situation 
so  far  as  the  Agents  in  charge  have  furnished  material. 

As  stated  above,  a  delegation  was  brought  on  to 
Washington,  professedly  representing  the  wish  of  the 
Indians  to  be  removed  out  of  Colorado  to  some  other 
reservation  to  be  created  for  them.  The  reasons  urged 
were  chiefly  that  they  were  surrounded  by  the  whites  who 
crowded  in  upon  them,  grazed  their  lands,  and  annoyed 
them  in  many  ways.  They  had  no  definite  idea  as  to  where 
they  wanted  to  go,  or  of  the  lands  for  which  they  asked. 

The  Honorable  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Mr.  Lamar, 
after  hearing  them  state  their  wish,  refused  to  favor  the 
movement.  The  Honorable  Commissioner,  Mr.  Atkins, 
during  the  next  autumn,  paid  them  a  visit,  and  after  a  long 
investigation  was  satisfied  that  it  was  a  movement  by  the 
whites,  in  which  they  had  the  co-operation  of  the  Agent ; 
that  a  large  majority  of  the  Indians,  and  those  the  most 
advanced  ones,  were  utterly  opposed  to  it,  and  said  that  as 
soon  as  the  severalty  bill  should  become  a  law,  he  would 
send  an  Agent  to  allot  their  lands,  and  thus  end  the  con 
troversy.  He  had  no  need  to  wait  for  this,  as  the  agree 
ment  made  with  these  Indians  in  1880  required  that  this 
should  be  done. 

A  bill  was  introduced  in  the  House,  immediately  after 
this  delegation  visited  Washington,  to  create  a  commission 
to  negotiate  for  their  removal.  This,  when  the  case  was 
explained  to  the  Committee,  was  smothered  in  the 
Committee. 


In  the  first  session  of  the  5Oth  Congress,  Mr.  Bowen, 
Senator  from  Colorado,  introduced  a  bill  in  the  Senate, 
which  was  favorably  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Indian 
Affairs,  of  which  he  is  a  member,  to  accomplish  this  same 
purpose.  It  was  said  by  a  member  of  the  Committee  that 
the  other  members,  out  of  courtesy,  allowed  him  to  report 
it,  but  they  had  reserved  their  right  to  oppose  it  on  the 
floor  of  the  Senate.  Soon  after  this,  by  the  same  courtesy, 
he  was  allowed  to  engraft  it,  as  an  amendment,  on  a  bill 
which  had  passed  the  House,  to  ratify  an  agreement  with 
some  Indians  in  Northern  Montana.  It  thus  escaped  what 
dangers  may  have  threatened  it  if  standing  alone  as  a 
Senate  bill ; — escaped  the  dangers  of  delay,  and  of  criti 
cism,  and  opposition  which  it  might  have  encountered  in 
the  House,  and  of  a  veto  from  the  President,  who  could 
not  kill  it  without  killing  also  the  important  bill,  to  which  it 
was  in  no  wise  germain  but  of  which  it  had  become  a  part. 

Thus  shrewdly  managed  it  became  a  law  and  the 
President  appointed  a  Commission  to  visit  and  treat  with 
these  Indians  for  a  cession  of  their  lands,  and  removal  to 
a  new  reservation.  After  a  protracted  effort,  continuing 
some  five  months,  this  commission  reports  that  they  have 
secured  the  signatures  of  a  majority  of  the  Indians  to 
this  effect,  and  a  bill  has  been  prepared  and  submitted  to 
Congress  to  ratify  this  Treaty,  and  appropriate  money  to 
carry  out  its  provisions. 

According  to  this  "Treaty," — for  so  the  Commissioners 
call  it,  although  Congress  decided  by  a  formal  act  in  1872 
that  no  more  treaties  should  be  made  with  Indians — these 
Indians  are  to  get  a  per  capita  payment  of  $50,000  in  ten 
annual  installments,  with  $20,000  worth  of  sheep,  and 
$2000  to  the  five  leading  chiefs,  and  the  establishment 
of  a  new  Agency  on  the  new  Reservation  in  Utah. 
This  Reservation  will  contain  nearly  3,000,000  acres  of 
land,  and  lies  very  near  their  present  Reservation,  but 
entirely  out  of  Colorado,  in  the  territory  of  Utah  ;  Colorado 
thus  freeing  herself  of  an  Indian  population. 


6 

The  Secretary  of  the  Interior  speaks  of  the  success  of 
this  negotiation  as  satisfactory.  The  Commissioner  re 
commends  the  passage  of  the  bill  as  desirable,  and  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Indian  Affairs,  spoke  to 
his  Committee  of  the  good  work  which  the  Commission 
had  accomplished  as  being  most  excellent  and  praiseworthy. 

It  is  to  be  greatly  regretted  that  no  satisfactory  reasons 
have  been  as  yet  presented  showing  that  for  the  Indian  this 
is  a  consummation  devoutly  to  be  desired. 

Senatorial  courtesy  took  the  place  of  the  usual  report 
which  should  have  given  the  facts  justifying  the  recom 
mendation  made  by  the  Committee  that  the  bill  pass. 
So  far  as  it  has  been  made  apparent  the  reason  for  this  re 
commendation  was  that  the  Senator  from  Colorado  must 
do  something  to  satisfy  his  constituents  in  the  matter,  and 
his  brother  Senators  gratified  his  wish. 

The  proposition  was  then  hid  under  the  aegis  of  another 
measure  with  which  it  had  no  connection  and,  shielded  by 
the  confidence  the  Senate  has  that  its  Committee  on  Indian 
Affairs  can  do  no  wrong,  it  passed  unchallenged,  and  thus 
no  statement  was  made  as  to  the  benefits  which  were  to  ac 
crue  to  the  Indian. 

It  came  before  the  House  only  as  an  amendment  to  one 
of  its  bills  to  which  the  House  was  asked  to  disagree, 
pro  forma,  that  it  might  be  settled  by  a  committee  of  con 
ference,  so  that  few,  if  any,  of  the  members  of  the  House 
had  their  attention  called  to  it.  No  illuminating  facts  as  to 
its  beneficent  result  for  the  Indian  were  presented  by  any 
one  at  any  stage  of  its  passage. 

The  report  of  the  Commission  has  not  come  before  the 
public  as  yet,  but  individual  members  have  explained  it  to 
a  limited  public.  The  chief  points  made  are  :  The  Indians 
are  much  crowded  upon  by  the  whites  where  they  now  are, 
and  there  are  no  whites  on  the  land  to  be  given  them; — these 
people  are  by  nature  herders,  and  they  will  have  given  them 
a  body  of  land  capable  of  supporting  vast  herds  of  cattle 


or  sheep ; — the  lands  on  which  they  now  are,  are  wanted 
by  the  whites  who  would  make  use  of  them  for  agricultural 
purposes  ;  the  lands  to  which  they  will  go  are  only  occupied 
by  herders,  chiefly  English,  and  as  these  lands  cannot  be 
irrigated  they  will  not  be  wanted  by  homesteaders. 

The  argument  is  briefly  this,  so  far  as  it  can  be  gathered  : 
When  the  white  man  wants  the  land  on  which  an  Indian  is, 
he  must  be  induced  to  go  on  to  land  which  the  white  man 
does  not  want.  This  may  be  gratifying  to  the  white  man, 
but  there  does  not  seem  to  be  much  of  civilizing  uplift 
in  it  for  the  Indian. 

It  will  be  noted  that  this  agreement," — Treaty,"  the 
Commissioners  call  it — gives  $50,000  in  money  to  the 
Indians  as  an  inducement  to  go.  If  there  is  a  better  outlook 
for  them  on  these  3,000,000  acres  of  land  than  on  the 
1,000,000  of  the  old  Reservation  we  ought  not  to  pay  such* 
a  bonus  ;  it  is  cheating  ourselves.  If  the  money  is  given  to 
equalize  the  land  value  of  these  two  tracts,  then  it  is  bad 
both  for  the  Indian  and  for  us  ; — the  money  will  soon  be 
squandered,  the  Indians  being  what  the  Commissioners  re 
present  them,  and  then  we  will  have  to  equalize  the  value 
by  constant  contributions  for  their  support. 

They  also  give  $2000,  to  the  chiefs.  Why  this  ? 
Has  it  not  been  our  policy  for  some  years  to  minimize  the 
power  and  importance  of  chiefs  as  a  condition  of  civilizing 
the  Indian  ?  It  is  contrary  to  what  has  been  settled  as 
good  policy  in  dealing  with  them.  It  also  appears  that 
there  was  doubt  as  to  which  of  two  men  was  chief,  and 
so  the  Commission  propose  giving  $250,00  to  each  of  them. 
But  this  is  not  all. 

The  Commissioners  could  make  no  start  in  these 
negotiations  until  they  procured  from  the  department  a 
payment  of  $1300  which  they  called  "a  gratuity  fund." 
This,  if  due  at  all,  was  overdue  some  nine  months.  One 
of  the  Commissioners,  in  announcing  the  consent  of  the 
Department  to  this  demand  of  the  Indians  that  this  money 


8 

shall  be  paid,  assured  them  that  it  was  withheld  because 
they  had  not  sent  their  children  to  school,  and,  "  Now,  I  say 
we  have  got  you  this  money  that  you  would  not  have  got 
otherwise,  and  we  want  you  to  be  fair  with  us." 

That  is  to  say,  what  was  refused  to  them  because  they 
did  not  send  their  children  to  school  was  paid  to  them,  at 
the  request  of  the  Commission,  to  induce  them  to  "  deal 
fairly  "  in  the  matter  of  selling  their  lands. 

It  may  be  that  in  every  way  it  will  be  better  for  the 
future  of  these  Indians  that  this  "  treaty  "  shall  be  ratified, 
but  it  is  unfortunate  that  the  reasons  for  this  have  not  yet 
been  made  manifest.  It  would  be  unpardonable  presump 
tion  for  one  who  has  never  compared  the  two  reservations 
to  assert  dogmatically,  in  face  of  the  statement  made  by  the 
Honorable  Commission,  that  this  change  will  be  in  every 
way  bad  for  the  Indian.  Such  an  one  cannot  sit  in  judgment 
upon  their  judgment  as  to  the  relative  value  of  the  two  tracts 
of  land,  but  certainly  he  may  pass  judgment  on  the  methods 
by  which  the  consent  of  the  Indians  has  been  obtained,  and 
the  legislation  leading  up  to  it,  and  it  is  neither  untrue  to 
the  facts,  nor  an  uncharitable  criticism  upon  them,  to  say  that 
there  has  been  a  revival  of  the  most  objectionable  features, 
both  of  legislation  and  of  treaty -making  in  the  whole  transac 
tion.  When  the  Commissioners  tell  us  that  it  is  advisable  to 
remove  the  Indians  from  good  land  on  which  they  have  made, 
under  all  the  circumstances  (if  we  may  put  any  confidence 
in  the  reports  of  the  Agents  during  the  past  eight  years), 
encouraging  beginnings,  simply  because  there  is  annoyance 
from  the  whites  who  wish  their  lands,  we  beg  leave  to  differ 
from  them.  When  it  is  assumed  that  the  near  and  pressing 
contact  of  civilizing  life  upon  the  Indian  is  bad  for  him, 
we  decidedly  dissent.  When  we  are  told  that  there  are 
no  whites  upon  the  land  to  which  it  is  proposed  to  remove 
them,  we  know  it  is  not  desirable  land  for  Indians. 

Nothing  more  delusive  or  unfortunate  could  be  made 
the  basis  of  our  action  in  regard  to  this  people  than  the 


theory  that  we  must  make  herders  of  them  as  the  natural 
and  necessary  preliminary  step  to  their  becoming  civilized 
citizens. 

Nothing  more  absurd  could  be  gravely  adduced  as  a 
reason  for  removing  them  from  their  present  home,  because 
annoyed  by  intruders  upon  it,  despite  the  obligation  of  the 
Government  under  one  treaty  to  protect  them,  than  the 
assumption  that  they  will  be  protected  from  like  intrusion 
upon  their  new  Reservation  by  a  similar  clause  in  this  new 
treaty.  This  would  be  to  give  to  this  new  treaty  a  sacred- 
ness  in  the  eyes  of  cattle  men,  simply  because  it  has  been 
negotiated  by  this  Commission,  which  we  cannot  reasonably 
hope  for  it. 

The  simple  fact  seems  to  be  that  Colorado  has  deter 
mined  that  she  will  have  no  Indians  within  her  borders. 
No  matter  to  what  place  they  may  be  taken ;  no  matter  with 
what  expense,  for  present  arrangement  or  future  support, 
to  the  general  government ;  no  matter  with  what  loss  to 
the  Indian,  he  must  go.  The  Committee  in  the  Senate  on 
Indian  Affairs  was  singularly  complacent  and  accommodat 
ing.  The  House  was  ignorant  of  what  was  being  done ; 
and  the  Honorable  Commissioners  doubtless  had  the  pride 
to  make  a  successs  of  their  negotiations  while  the  Sioux 
Commission  were  conspicuously  making  a  failure  of  theirs, 
and  so,  after  five  months'  negotiating,  and  what  looks  very 
much  like  bribery  of  the  chiefs,  they  have  presented  for 
ratification  a  "  treaty  "  which  provides  for  the  removal  of 
these  people  from  lands  on  which  they  could  be  taught  to 
support  themselves  on  allotted  farms,  to  land  on  which  the 
condition  of  their  living  at  all  is  that  it  shall  be  held  as 
tribal  land.  They  must  be  nomads  following  tribal  herds 
over  tribal  ranges,  so  long  as  they  live  on  this  new  Reserva 
tion.  That  they  shall  be  allowed  undisturbed  possession  of 
it  for  these  herds  by  the  herders  who  have  been  occupy 
ing  it  with  their  flocks  is  the  idle  dream  of  men  who 
have  more  deeply  pondered  the  question  how  to  succeed 


10 

in  their  negotiations,  than  they  have  the  probabilities  of 
peace. 

Since  the  above  was  in  the  hands  of  the  printer,  the  re 
port  of  the  Commissioners  has  been  given  to  Congress,  and 
has  been  published  as  Senate  Ex.  Doc.  No.  67,  2d  ses 
sion,  5<Dth  Congress.  A  verbatim  report  of  "  all  essential 
particulars"  of  the  several  Councils  held  with  the  Utes 
constitutes  the  body  of  this  report.  No  one  can  read  it 
without  receiving  an  impression,  which  deepens  into  a  con 
viction,  that  these  Commissioners  went  out  to  secure  the 
consent  of  the  Indians  to  remove,  and  not  primarily  to  discern 
what  their  wishes  were.  These  three  gentlemen  seemed  to 
relieve  and  supplement  each  other  when  their  energies 
flagged,  or  their  reasons  failed  to  convince  the  Indians  that 
they  ought  to  go. 

They  did  not  say,  "  My  Friends,  it  has  been  reported 
to  the  Great  Father  that  you  wish  to  modify  the  treaty  un 
der  which  this  Reservation  was  given  to  you,  and  that  you 
want  to  exchange  this  land  for  some  other  land  elsewhere, 
and  he  has  sent  us  out  to  learn  your  wish  in  the  matter." 

They  commenced  by  telling  them  that  they  were  "  much 
crowded  upon  by  the  whites;  your  lands  are  run  over  by 
them ;  your  stock  stolen,  and  you  are  so  annoyed  that  you 
can  have  no  peace  here." 

In  answer  to  this  the  Indians  persistently  assert  that  this 
is  their  home;  that  they  know  no  other;  they  desire  no 
other.  That  they  know  nothing  about  the  annoyances  and 
wrongs  inflicted  upon  them.  They  are  at  peace  with  their 
white  neighbors,  and  have  no  complaints  to  make  of  the 
thieving  spoken  of  by  the  Commissioners. 

So  persistently  did  these  gentlemen  insist  that  they 
ought  to  consent  to  a  change,  that  the  Indians  doubted 
whether  the  Great  Father  had  sent  them.  When  asked  to 
explain  what  he  meant  by  this,  Ignacio  said;  "I  do  not 
think  you  had  orders  from  the  Government,  from  the  way 
you  talk.  We  do  not  want  to  change  the  Reservation,  and 


11 

you  wish  to  keep  us  arguing  until  you  get  the  Reservation." 
This  was  in  the  fourth  Council.  In  the  fifth  Council, 
Charlie  said,  "The  Government  always  lies  to  us.  When 
we  lived  on  the  Cimmaron  they  told  us  we  could  come 
here  and  live  here  forever,  we  and  our  children  and  our 
grandchildren,  and  that  all  could  live  here  and  die  here, 
and  we  would  never  be  bothered,  and  now  they  come  and 
try  to  bluff  and  scare  us  out  of  here."  When  reminded 
that  he,  Charlie,  Ignacio,  and  Ta-pu-che  went  to  Washington 
and  said  they  wanted  to  remove,  he  said :  "  It  is  true  as  you 
say.  At  the  time  the  Commissioner  came  out  about  half 
of  the  people  did,  but  now  that  your  folks  have  come,  I 
have  talked  with  my  people  and  they  do  not  want  to  do  so. 
You  see  this  was  two  years  ago,  and  my  people  have  for 
gotten  all  about  it." 

One  of  the  Commissioners  asked  what  made  them 
change  their  mind.  Charlie  said:  "For  the  reason  that  I 
and  my  people  have  been  farming  on  this  land"  He  also 
said;  "Out  there  there  is  no  large  river;  there  is  no  river 
like  the  Animas;  there  is  no  river  like  the  Pinos  or  the 
Piedra.  This  land  is  worth  a  great  deal  of  money,  why 
should  I  wish  to  sell.  I  have  been  here  ten  years,  farm 
ing  and  getting  my  family.  The  first  year  I  did  not 
like  it,  but  the  second  I  liked  it  better,  because  I  got 
used  to  it.  Here  we  have  watermelons  and  muskmelons, 
and  all  kinds  of  vegetables  and  fruit,  and  here  the  children 
are  happy  and  satisfied,  and  if  I  go  away  we  cannot 
farm,  and  what  shall  my  children  eat."  "The  land  out 
there  is  no  good;  across  the  Colorado  River,  and  on 
this  side  there  is  a  large  space  of  stone,  and  a  little  more 
this  side  there  are  80,000  cattle  that  eat  the  grass;  they 
must  be  eating  grass.  Here  it  is  good  for  farming,  and  out 
there  it  is  good  for  raising  cattle  and  sheep." 

When  Mr.  Weaver  assured  him  that  if  he  made  a  treaty 
with  him  the  cows  should  be  kept  off  their  New  Reserve, 
he  said  to  the  Ex-Agent  who  was  acting  as  interpreter, 


12 

"you  have  been  Agent  for  four  years,  and  you  never  run 
the  sheep  out,  nor  any  one  else  before,  nor  has  the  present 
Agent.  How  could  anybody  else  guarantee  to  run  them  out" 
But  the  Commissioners  assured  them  that  under  the  sacred 
treaty  they  were  now  invited  to  make,  the  cattle  should  be 
kept  off  of  the  New  Reservation  if  it  took  the  army  of  the 
United  States  to  do  it. 

At  the  close  of  the  fourth  Council,  held  on  the  24th  of 
August,  the  Commissioners  seemingly  concluded  the  Indi 
ans  would  not  give  their  consent.  They  had  magnified  the 
difficulties  which  beset  them,  assured  them  that  they  would 
continue  to  increase ;  that  they  would  be  confined  to  the  lim 
its  of  their  Reservation  and  would  not  be  allowed  to  pass  over 
its  boundary;  had  dwelt  upon  the  advantages  of  the  Coun 
try  to  which  they  would  take  them  ( they  had  not  as  yet 
visited  it  themselves),  and  intimated  that  now  they  would 
say  good-bye  to  them,  and  they  would  never  have  such  a 
chance  to  sell  again.  To  this  they  persistently  and  unani 
mously  said  we  do  not  wish  to  sell.  The  chairman  said 
they  had  "come  a  long  distance,  only  for  your  good." 
They  said,  "  It  is  all  right,  but  by  the  same  way  you  came, 
the  same  way  you  can  go,  whenever  you  are  ready  to  go." 
When  asked  if  they  would  like  them  to  come  back  again  and 
have  them  explain  the  old  treaty  to  them,  Ignacio  said, 
"  Even  if  I  told  you  to  go,  you  would  insist,  and  try  to  have 
a  treaty." 

Finally,  they  seemingly,  on  the  24th  of  August,  said 
"  good-bye,"  but  on  the  2/th  of  September  we  find  them  in 
council  again.  The  chairman  said  he  called  the  Council  at 
the  request  of  Ignacio,  when  Severe  expressed  surprise  that, 
after  they  had  said  good-bye  to  them,  they  should  be  called 
together  again.  Ignacio  repudiated  this,  and  said,  "you 
told  me  you  would  like  to  have  another  talk."  And  talk 
they  did.  They  had  been  spending  a  month  learning  how 
wretched  the  condition  of  these  Indians  really  was,  and 
now  called  their  attention,  as  they  had  so  many  times  be- 


13 

fore,  to  the  fact  that  there  was  no  good  hunting  where  they 
were,  and  wished,  it  would  seem,  to  have  them  give  over 
attempts  at  farming,  and  go  where  there  was  a  chance  for 
game. 

After  much  pressure,  and  a  promise  to  have  shoes  put 
on  the  forefeet  of  their  ponies  at  the  expense  of  the  Govern 
ment,  they  got  a  delegation  of  three,  from  each  of  the  three 
bands,  to  go  with  them  hunting  for  land.  The  Commis 
sioners  say,  "the  Indians  proposed  to  us  to  take  three  from 
each  band,  or  nine  in  all,  with  us  to  examine  the  land,  etc., 
etc.;"  but  on  page  24  of  the  report,  the  chairman  says,  "We 
asked  you,  when  we  first  came  here,  to  go  out  West,  and 
see  if  we  could  not  find  a  better  land  for  you,  and  we  are 
still  ready,  if  you  will  select  three  or  four  of  your  chiefs, 
to  go  with  them  and  try  and  find  a  better  home  for  you." 
The  spontaneity  of  the  Indian  movement,  either  to  make 
this  exploration,  or  to  renew  negotiations,  seems  to  be 
of  the  same  character  as  that  shown  in  the  original  agitation 
of  the  question  of  removal. 

The  Indians  are  impressed  with  the  idea  that  the  Great 
Father  was  dissatisfied  with  them.  They  protested  that 
they  had  done  all,  so  far  as  they  could,  to  please  him;  that 
they  had  no  desire  to  go,  but  the  persistency  of  the  Com 
missioners  convinced  them  that  resistance  was  useless. 
Charlie  gives  the  reason  why,  finally,  the  Utes  consented. 
He  said ;  "  The  reason  you  say  it  is  a  good  idea  for  the 
Utes  to  go  out  there  in  the  Blue  Mountains  is  because  it  is 
a  desert  there ;  but  all^  the  same,  we  are  willing  to  go  if  you 
will  give  us  what  we  say.  It  does  not  make  any  difference 
if  we  do  not  farm.  Afterwards,  too,  if  we  make  a  treaty 
with  you,  we  have  nothing  to  say.  Here  you  cannot  come 
and  say  we  have  got  a  farm ;  we  have  got  a  mighty  good 
country  to  farm  in.  There  you  will  not  have  to  say,  "  Get 
out  of  here,  Utes ;  you  have  got  too  good  a  land!  No  other 
Commissioner  will  have  to  say  that.  That  is  the  reason  I 
say  now,  and  all  the  Utes  say,  too,  that  we  will  take  the  land. 


14 

You  will  not  have  to  drive  us  out  of  there''  In  contrast  with 
this,  the  Commissioners  say  of  the  Reservation  from  which 
they  wish  to  remove  these  Indians ;  "  It  is  traversed  by  the 
following  rivers,  to  wit,  the  Navajo,.San  Juan,  Blanco,  Pie- 
dra,  Pinos,  Florida,  Animas,  La  Plata  and  Mancos,  besides 
other  smaller  streams,  and,  containing  about  350,000  acres 
of  rich  farming  land,  which  can  be  irrigated  from  the  above 
streams  at  but  little  expense,  is  so  essential  to  the  prosperi 
ty  and  development  of  this  part  of  Colorado,  that  it  is  be 
yond  human  reason  to  believe  it  will  be  long  permitted  to 
remain  under  the  control  of  a  people  who  only  cultivate, 
at  most,  600  acres,  and  do  most  of  that  by  renting  their 
farms  to  Mexicans  on  shares." 

They  say  the  mass  of  these  Indians  wanted  a  new  home 
where  the  climate  is  milder  and  grass  and  game  more  abun 
dant,  etc.,  but  one  of  them,  Mr.  Smith,  says  of  the  Mormons 
who  live  on  this  new  proposed  home  for  these  people,  that, 
"Some  of  them,  when  winter  sets  in,  seek  more  comfortable 
homes,  as  the  country  is  very  inaccessible  during  the  snowy 
season." 

The  richness  of  this  Report  can  be  found  only  by  one 
who  takes  it  as  a  whole. 

Aside  from  the  claim  which  is  now  made  by  miners  for 
their  improvements,  and  rights  in  certain  mines  on  this  land, 
there  are  aggregate  claims,  Mormon  and  non-Mormon,  to 
the  amount  of  $87,232.81  which  must  be  extinguished. 
So  we  may  add  up  as  follows — $10,000  paid  this  Commis 
sion  for  its  labors ;  $50,000  to  the  Indians  in  cash,  $20,000 
in  sheep ;  $2000  bribe  to  the  chiefs  ;  and  $87,232.81  to  the 
settlers,  a  sum  total  of  $169,232.81,  aside  from  the  claims 
of  miners,  and  a  loss  of  what  has  been  expended  for 
ditches,  etc.,  in  the  old  Reservation ;  this  as  the  sum  we 
pay  to  gratify  Colorado  in  expelling  from  her  borders  the 
last  remnant  of  these,  by  her,  much  abused  people,  and  for 
the  privilege  of  supporting  them  wholly  in  the  future,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  expense  we  shall  be  at  guarding  this 


15 

Reservation  by  the  police  of  our  "  whole  Army,"  according 
to  the  solemn  promise  of  these  Commissioners,  against  the 
encroachment  of  the  Cowboys. 

We  beg  leave  humbly  to  submit  that  we  believe  the 
experiment  of  civilizing  these  people  could  have  been  made 
more  cheaply,  honorably  and  satisfactorily  where  they  now 
are,  and  venture  to  say  that,  from  all  that  appears  so  far  in 
the  case,  Congress  ought  not,  in  the  interests  of  the  Indians, 
of  peace  and  economy,  to  ratify  this  Treaty  with  the  South 
ern  Utes. 


